Who’s That?

Summer in Alaska, Some of the “Wild Life”

Is That Boat Going To Hit Me?!

The noise of the wind quickly increased from a low roar to a loud roar in just a few seconds. This noise makes me jump out of bed and race up to the salon to look out the windows. The first thing I see is one of the seven seat cushions in the cockpit is lifting up on one side. The cushion has two snaps holding it in place, the wind is trying to pry the snaps loose and then another reinforcing gust comes and pops the snaps free and the cushions is airborne flying across the deck. All this happens just as I arrive in the salon and look out the back window.

One seat cushion gone, six must be saved quickly! I open the back door and race to unsnap the remaining cushions. I jump through the open doorway and I am hit with the blast of wind, the lights of the harbor allow me to see into the darkness of the night. Before I start gathering up the doomed cushions, I glance into the water where the flying cushion should have landed, but me eyes stop at the edge of the boat where the cushion is unbelievably pinned against the parallel twin life lines that run around the entire boat. I froze for what seemed like a few seconds as I can’t quite believe the scene I am seeing. The three foot long green seat cushion is hanging in midair like a picture on a wall not moving despite the howling wind coming side ways across the boat.

Forgetting about the others, I leap across the boat to grab the lone cushion before the wind lets up and allows gravity to pull it down away from the metal lifelines into the waiting churning water. I grab it and pull it away thankful for the wires that held it in place. I toss it through the open doorway into the salon and gather up the other ones and toss them through two at a time. I follow the last one into the shelter of the salon. Juliette is standing next to the pile of wet green cushions. Through out the seat cushion ordeal I barely noticed the light sideways rain that accompanied the wind.

When we went to bed earlier, we knew a blow was coming and we thought we were well prepared for it, that afternoon we anchored in a better spot with a sandy bottom that helps hold the anchor in place. The place I chose in Nassau Harbor was away from the large group of other boats on the south side. We were on the north side with one other boat, a fifty foot double masted wooden sailboat.

The harbor is open to the ocean on the west end were the gigantic cruise ships with names like “Carnival Princess” enter and tie up to a large dock and empty their cargo of thousands of tourists on to the waiting streets of Nassau’s souvenir shops and the east end of the harbor is open to the shallow banks of water that extend down into the Exumas Islands. It is a very busy harbor with a current that runs through it, changing direction every six hours with the rising and falling tide. That night the out going tide was making our boat and all the other boats face east, but when the winds from the cold front arrived they were blowing from the west. So, the current in the harbor was flowing in one direction and then the sudden strong winds show up blowing in the opposite direction coming in over the backs of all these boats. The results were eerie.

As we stood next to the pile of wet green cushions looking out over our “backyard” the large wooden sailboat behind us is being driven by the wind away from the current and out toward the middle of the harbor. It looks as if neither the current nor the wind has won in choosing the direction in which the boat will lay, but the boat is squeezed out between them like a seed of a lemon wedge that gets spit out from its squeeze. As the boat moves out toward the south, I know the guy has out 150’ of anchor line and I hope that when the boat reaches the end of it, the set anchor keeps this large boat tethered to the sea bottom, because if the boat pulls it’s anchor free of the bottom there is a chance it could drag itself into me! We watch the boat over the next ten minutes being squeezed to the south, reaching the limits of the anchor line, then turning north until it reaches it again. Their anchor holds! Yes! All the while my boat is doing the same and my anchor holds as well. For some reason I felt that it was a bigger deal if I had to react to a boat bearing down on me in my some what helpless position of being anchored securely while the other boat drags into me, than if my own anchor becomes dislodged and I have to jump up and start the engines and pull the anchor up in the 40 knot wind and then try to find a place to reset it in the dark, windy, rainy night.

The wind increases to a steady 30-35 knots with minute long gust of 40 knots. The current loses its battle with the wind and all the wandering boats are now firmly lined up with the direction of the wind. We are watching our position on the chart plotter and we are sticking like glue to the sea bottom. Unfortunately not all the boats in the harbor are unscathed. As we look out the windows into the rainy, windy, night the seas in the protected harbor are building to two footers with the tops of the waves being blow off down onto the next sets of waves behind them, we spy a lone sailboat slowly motoring into the wind out in the middle of the harbor. Over the next hour I watch him motor past us then a few minutes later he changes course and returns by us again. For the first thirty minutes and three trips by us he doesn’t have on any lights, no anchor light or any running lights. Its obvious to us that the wind came up on him and dislodged his anchor. In his haste to secure his self and his boat, he forgot to turn on his lights, it’s no big deal. On the fourth lap around the harbor I look up to see he has turned on his lights. I can only image that this guy is all alone and trying to reset an anchor in this harbor (bad holding in most areas, [not enough sand over a hard bottom]). I realize that there is nothing I can do for him and sit back and both he and I wait for the wind to die down.

Accepting that there is nothing more for us to do, Juliette returns down to the bedroom while I remain in the salon deciding to sleep on the sofa so I can keep a closer eye on the situation. It seems strange to get a kick of joy from being in somewhat dangerous circumstances, but I think maybe I am becoming addicted to the doses of adrenalin that course through my body during times like these…. Yes!

Romeo and Juliette, what’s really going on!!!!

2/18/2010

As you all know by now we purchased a sailing catamaran in Florida on May 21, 2009.

 

Our plan was to circumnavigate the world, to take our time traveling down to Trinidad, this year and leave the boat there for the summer and go back to Alaska to work and spend time with family and friends.

 

We started by crossing from Miami, FL. over to the Bahamas. Then down to the Caribbean Islands, then at some point go thru the Panama Canal. Following the trade winds as we go on our free ride around the world. But of course nothing is free and maintenance on a boat is not cheap and neither is Juliette,

she is on a first class budget when it comes to living.

She is a romantic and in love with her husband, Romeo. The longer they live together closely on the catamaran boat the easier it is.

She realizes, more and more how lucky she is to have married a man whom is so adventurous and willing to learn new things daily, with an open mind with no preconceptions of what it would be like to live on a boat full time.

Hot milk for my coffee (SWEET)

When she first met him, he seemed to be very conservative with a boyish character and very loyal to his family, friends and the people he employed.

He has high standards and is demanding in a very creative way that gets people to do what he wants and almost never asks for anything, but some how always gets what he wants out of a person.

The boyish side is crazy and loves to have fun, but almost never laughs one reason is he doesn’t hear well, but the more important is he is very smart and it takes a lot to entertain him. When we were raising Robby my sisters son, for a few years after his mother past away. It was good times and Romeo took the job of schooling him into becoming the best man he could be very serious and he was upset all the time. Juliette realized that being in charge of the out come of a persons life is a very big job. Juliette decides not have a baby and not to get pregnant, she is still waiting for her monkey. She loves spending time with kids, but it’s also nice not to have the responsibly of raising a child and staying in one spot all  the time.

So do we like living on the boat? This is the most frequent asked question. Why would we want to put ourselves in danger, is the second. So to answers the first question yes we like it, but do we think it is crazy too, yes!!!!

Were is the other half of my fish?

It is it hard, yes in every way you can think of, it’s like living off the land in a way, but in a nice boat in stead of in the mountains on land in the cold.

 

It is a carefree life style in the morning we wake up and say (were should we go today),

the only thing that controls us is the weather and each other on the decision.

Or waiting for a part for boat at DHL for a week in Nassau

 

We work on the boat on bad weather days, usually  up side down,

if we feel like it or just read a book.

Sit in the cockpit and have a cold one at the end of the day.

 

We have no one to impress our morals on, no one to restrict our standard of living, and no one to answer to but each other.

It is like living the life of a teenager, but with money.

Our only stress is the weather and making sure that the boat continues to keep us safe, and to our next adventure. It is intoxicating just like the love we have for each other is.

4 more Mutton Snappers

 

We work harder to please one another and put the other person first.

He called this my prom dress, he was very surprised when this one came out on Valentines Day.

When one of us is really set on something, the other one quickly caves and give into to the other and the dance goes on.

Second question do we feel like we are in danger? We are feeling better about our abilities as sailors and we have been going out in winds has high as 28 knots and 8 foot seas. Our boat is designed for deep blue water and can take a lot and so can we.

Romeo is mastering setting the anchor, but dragging anchor and crashing into something is  in the middle of the night is always a concern in bad weather or good.

 

We no longer ever feel sea sick or anything from the motion of the ever constant movement of the water.

More touring of Nassau, Bahamas as we wait for the pump for the water maker, delivery at DHL.

 

 

We get antsy if we stay in one place for more than a few days. It is the best thing we could have ever done to keep your life and marriage exacting and growing in a new direction, we are so lucky to have each other and to have my brother keeping our house in order in Alaska, he is one of the people who brought us together and is a positive support. We can never thank him enough for helping us live out our dream and we hope he knows that we are always there for him. And yes we are planning to stay with the plan of circumnavigating the world.

We are have a lot of fun!!!!!

Fireworks on Valentines Day.

Weird Weather

Here is the latest update, sorry about the delay. Juliette made it back a few days ago. Funny story about her arrival. I was doing some running around that morning and got back to the boat, I looked at her itinerary thinking she is getting in at 2pm, but the ticket said 12 noon. I dropped what I was doing, got back in the dingy and went to shore and found a taxi. I arrived at the airport just as the plane was landing, as I entered the terminal, she was just finished with customs and ready to go back to the boat. After the 30 minute taxi ride back to the dingy ($60 round-trip to the airport), we get back to the boat and start settling in when she discovers she forgot one bag back at the airport. So, back in the dingy, we get to the dingy dock and find a taxi to take us back to the airport. Her bag was still there, so we grab the bag and get back in the taxi and cross back over the Island of Nassau to our boat. It turns out she was worried about customs because she was traveling with about 10 pounds of steaks (meat) that she picked up at Sams Club in California. She was worry that the custom agents were going to have barbeque steaks with their families rather than us.

The weather tonight is suppose to be some of the strongest sustained winds with a cold front in the last 10 years. We are ready for it. We are in Nassau Harbor anchored in front of a little building that is used for Yoga.